Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: farkas@eng.sun.com (Frank Farkas) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: at the last moment Message-ID: Date: 27 Mar 91 04:38:58 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 70 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , MAS139@psuvm.psu.edu writes: >I have always wondered about the passage concerning the robber >on the cross who was saved right before he died. If this is >possible, why should anyone be "saved" before the last moment? >What I mean is, what is the incentive to be true to the Word if >salvation can come at the last moment of life? I believe that the difficulty lies with the fact that we assume that the thief went into heaven, and that there is only "one" heaven. In fact the thief went into the spirit world, where Jesus went after he died on the cross. I Peter 3:18-19 =============== "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" I Peter 4:6 ----------- "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Was the thief saved? It all depends what his response was to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans 10:13-14 =============== "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" Paul has taught about the differences in the resurrection, for we won't all be resurrected to the same glory. I Corint 15:41-42 ***************** "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also the resurrection of the dead. ..." Paul himself was caught up into the third heaven: 2 Corint 12:3-4 =============== "I knew a man in Christ above fourteenyears ago, (whether in the body, I can't tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven." "How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." As you can see, things are not as simple as many would like to believe. Maybe when the thief will be resurrected his glory can be compared to the faintest star in the heavens, instead of the glory of the sun, even if he accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a story about a robber who killed a bank teller. He was sentenced to die. While he was waiting for his exacution, he was converted, and he went to heaven. The teller was complaining in hell, for he was not saved, that he didn't receive the same chance as the robber did. With brotherly love, Frank